Woot! I found internet

I have snuck my way into the computer lab of the local university, so here I am.

It's been almost 3 weeks since I moved down here. There are still a few things in my car (yes, I am that lazy, plus my room is so damn tiny and I don't know where to put the stuff), but I'm basically moved in. My dad is already driving me crazy- the day I moved in, hadn't even unpacked one box from the car, the first thing he said to me: "what are you making for dinner?" My mom is great, basically just giving me space. R talks to her on the phone most nights, he doesn't have any friends he can rely on, he ditched most of them during his fling with the church. He's getting them back, though. I'm glad, he needs friends, he needs somebody to talk to and relax with while he's going through this.

R is in counseling, he's about to upgrade to twice weekly for about a month. I am so glad he is going, it is going to help him so much. He wants me to start coming up to visit for a day or two a week (not for another couple weeks, he has finally realized the need to back off). I don't know. He isn't that religious freak anymore, but he also isn't really himself yet. He's trying so hard, which is just screwing things up more, going from one extreme last month to the other this month. Maybe once he settles back down I will think about it. I've never been able to say no when it comes to him, all logic goes to hell and my brain doesn't even try to override my heart. But I am being strong, I am taking this time for myself and not even offering the option until he's been in counseling a month (almost 2 weeks already, so he is making progress). If I do go up to visit, I think I want it to be on a day he has counseling, so I can go with him and have a couples session, work on some of "our" issues. I won't be sleeping in his bed, none of that kind of stuff, just being in the same half of the state and talking. We'll need a lot of that before we can really do much else toward staying together.

I have about 20 other things to do while I have access to the internet. Thank you everybody for your support and kind words. I couldn't do this without you.

It's officially over

I have made the absolute decision to leave. There is no turning back or way to fix things. I gave R the ultimatum to either see a marriage counselor (and NOT one through his church) or divorce. He told me that he'd never see a secular counselor and if I didn't want a divorce I'd have to go to counseling through his church. Nope, that's not the deal I offered him, and I've given in on every demand he's ever made, not this time. He wasn't willing to compromise just a little bit to make our marriage work. So, I'm out, and there is nothing that will change my mind. He has proven that he doesn't respect my faith or even who I am as a person, he has proven that he is the only one that matters in this marriage. Doesn't sound like a situation I want to stay in, and it's definitely not something I'm willing to put up with.

I don't feel sad that I'm leaving R. I hate this town and can't wait to leave, and I'm feeling less and less concern for R as he is starting to show how selfish and manipulative he can be. I will miss Little H, but one happy weekend a month isn't worth it. I won't be able to tell him goodbye, he won't be here again before I leave. But we will be living in the same area (read: the only WalMart within 20 miles) so I'm sure I'll see him again sometime. The dog is mine, R's keeping the stray cats. And I have never been so happy to break up in my life. I realized that I haven't been myself in at least a year, and in the past 6 months I haven't been anything, I'm empty as a person. This is my chance to fill myself again, with happiness and energy and excitement for life. And I am telling everybody I talk to that I'm getting a divorce, making damn sure I can't talk myself out of it (not that I would ever want to now that I see the rest of the world around me, I don't know how I lost sight of it for so long).

Mel, sneak in the back of the Lushary (I know it's not open today, but please) and pour everybody a drink! Today is a day to celebrate me becoming me again, being full rather than hollow, and independent rather than withdrawn! My life is mine again, and I will enjoy it.

Don't blame it on the sunshine!

Don't blame it on the moonlight!
Don't blame it on the good times!
Blame it on the boogie!

OK, enough Michael Jackson reminiscing. I have been away for quite a while, haven't I? And really, it had nothing to do with the nice weather, or my overwhelming need to sleep, or anything exciting happening. Blame it on the boogie (which in the song means boogie, here I'm using the word to reference everyday life). And then, I went downstate for the weekend, which means that I guess it can be blamed on the good times (partially, from Thursday until last night).

I spent Thursday in Ann Arbor with my baby brother (have I named him yet? I don't think so, we'll go with Doe). Yummy chinese food, sitting around the dorm, contributing to the delinquency (just a little bit, hey, he's in college, he'd find another buyer if I wasn't around). It was nice. We never hang out when he's home, so it's nice to get to know him a little bit when he's in his element at college.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Fenton catching up with some old friends. We hung out, watched a live band at the local bar, watched movies. Every time we left the house we ended up drinking, it's like those girls look for every excuse they can find (not really, we were having an indulgent girls weekend). Waiting for haircut appt??? Let's go to Buffalo Wild Wings and have a beer on the patio. Gave up on haircut after waiting so long??? Let's go to another bar and have Long Islands and play with the jukebox. Live band??? Let's go to the bar and have drinks. And that was all on Saturday. It was indulgent and relaxing and I didn't think about IF or DH at all. I miss those carefree days. And not just the weekend, I miss back in college when I had so few responsibilities and I got to be selfish every once in a while. Even on my indulgent weekend I didn't get to be selfish, because I had a strict budget to follow. Being a grown up sucks!

But, I do get to brag about R a little bit. Saturday there was a tragic crash at a Blue Angels show, one of the pilots died. Saturday afternoon R got a call asking him to completely revamp the official fan club website and include a memorial guest book. He stayed up all night to do it, and now the link is being forwarded to national news stations. Here's the link (go ahead and leave feedback in my comments if you want, he loves any sort of feedback on his websites as he is fairly new at building them): www.blueangelsfanclub.com

Now to catch up on all the housework that R didn't even attempt to do while I was gone. Home for 2 weeks after lap, all weekend by himself, didn't even do dishes. Watched the dog dig a huge hole under the fence, didn't even push dirt back in the hole (or toss in pieces of our old sidewalk like he planned, to keep her from wanting to dig there anymore), so the wife has to do that too. I swear, one of these days I'm going to stab him in the throat while he's sleeping.

Breeding, continued

I realize that I was rather confusing in my last post, maybe. What I really was trying to get out was the thought I had back when R and I decided to work things out. That he is the man I want to do daily injections for, the man I want to show my goods to the RE for, the man I want children with so much that I am excited to endure fertility treatments. At one point, years ago, he was the man that I wanted to roll around naked with, and instantly have a child. But that's not exactly a possibility. Before some of the most recent events, I needed him to become more. I needed to see dedication and blinding desire for children. Before, he was the guy that I knew would bring me a glass of water because of a cl.omid hot flash, but I didn't know if he was the guy that would be everything I needed through all of it. And I wasn't sure if he had risen above "roll around naked to get a baby" status and into "side effects and mixing medications to get a baby" status.

Do our husbands magically make it to that point when we need them to? Does it take a crisis to get them to that next level? The ones that do need a crisis to step up: are they still a step behind the "prepared from the beginning" guys? Have you ever had that warm fuzzy moment when you realized DH had gone beyond "nakie time" and into "fertility treatments" worthy?

Deciding who to breed with

I inspired myself to think about this topic back before the ER/surgery saga, and I believe I now have the time to dedicate to a proper completion to my thoughts.

When I was younger, I wanted to have the life my mom did. She was married at 19, gave birth to me exactly 1 month after the wedding (ok, I was going to change that timeline a bit and be married before I got pg, but 19 was the magic age). By 24 she had her three kids and was the epitome of SAHM. She baked her own bread, she made perfect mac & cheese (it is possible to screw it up, but we're leaving Dad's mother out of this), taught us how to read, showed us the joy of rolling down hills and catching worms for fishing. She crocheted intricate snowflake ornaments, enough to cover the Christmas tree and hang in every window. She taught us to covet the simple things and evade the materialism of the world around us. She taught us to be proud of ourselves and never let somebody else put us down. Until I was 5 years old, she was a single mom, because Dad was a Marine and almost never stayed in one place. Rather than move us around every 6 months (and very often Dad was out of country), we stayed near extended family.

Rather insignificant bit of information: Dad is not biologically related to me. They were married before I was born, his name is on my birth certificate, but his sperm did not contribute to my existance. That guy has never been a part of my life, only met him once and I was too little to remember. But there is a significance, because it contributes to the "choosing who to produce children with" dilema. At the time I was conceived, Mom was romantically involved with that guy, had been for quite some time. She had dated Dad a few times, but he was always taking off for another month in the field or whatever military thing, so she was still somewhat involved with high school boyfriend (i.e. that guy). Things end with that guy, things step up a notch with Dad. Turns out that guy got her pg before Dad came back in the picture. Dad doesn't care, he loves her, wants a family with her. Half a year later they are married, fetal me in the way of their first kiss as husband and wife. And now fast forward to the topic at hand: choosing the "father" of your children.

When it comes to my conception, the criteria for mating was high school love. That imagined love, love that you realize was nearly insignificant once you grow and feel real love (and sometimes that real love is with the same guy, but HS love really is nothing like adult love). Some possibly magical moments, but really just sneaking around to "do it" without parents finding out. That's how my "father" was chosen.

And my dad? Well, with the information at hand, it appears that it was a case of a relationship given the time to blossom, but with a due date approaching and decisions needing to be made. He would be seen as my father no matter what, and if he wanted to stay with my mom he had to be a part of my life as well. It was a situation he jumped into with open eyes and open arms. He is the only father I have ever known, and I know that he sees me as his daughter 100%, I am in no way his stepdaughter. How about my mom's choice in it all, did she put much thought into who I would call daddy? Is it as much thought as we put into that decision when we are diagnosed with infertility.

For most women, being the man they love is enough criteria to father a child. For some, the man just has to be the one they found that night. But for us, is there something more? Do we hold our men to a higher standard? Do we judge whether or not they are worth injections or hot flashes or laparoscopic surgery? Do we question whether they deserve the child we are going through so much to conceive? Do we question whether they are the support system we need while doing so? Is it enough that we love them? Or do we demand that they go above and beyond the "normal" fathering requirements to validate our choice in enduring treatments to have their child? What criteria do we really hold our men to?

We ask them to do so much more in light of infertility. Jerking off in cups, holding our hand during the pain of an HSG, pacing the waiting room when our lap last 3x as long as the doctor prepared him for, wiping our tears and holding our shaking bodies when grief explodes from a failed cycle.

And if this guy doesn't work out, if he can't be what we need, does that change how we date and search for a new mate? Do we test them in upsetting situations? Do we push them a little too hard, to make sure they will be able to handle it?

My cousin is so fricken lucky. She was getting really serious with a guy (Drummer), more serious than she'd ever been before. Tragedy struck our family, our favorite uncle died (one of my first posts tells the story of Goofball). He had been a second father to all of us, even more to her because her parents were divorced. Drummer had just driven from Wyoming to Tennessee two days prior (and we got the call early in the morning, so really he had only been home for 18 hours or so), but immediately packed a suitcase and drove her to Michigan. He had never met the extended family (all 300 of them), and it was the worst case scenario to do so. He was tested that weekend, his energy drained, feeling helpless in such an emotional situation. Lucky her, he was amazing. They are married now. But how lucky is that, to have life test your man so wholely right at the cusp of engagement? Going into it, she has proof that he'd do anything for her and be the kind of man she needs. He is so the perfect husband for an infertile. Of course, they will probably pop out perfect little children without a care.

So, do we judge our men differently because of our infertility? Do we hold them to a higher standard? Do we question or desire to have children with them? Or does or desire to have children trump all?

Goodbye gallbladder, hello whiny husband

You may have noticed that I didn't continue my blog yesterday, and that I didn't update at all after surgery. You may have, but I did not. I was running on 3 hours of crappy sleep yesterday, and I don't remember eating from the time R went to the ER Friday morning until late Saturday afternoon (while he was in the recovery room after the surgeon gave us the report, my mom took me to the cafeteria and made me eat something, which was a good idea since I nearly passed out standing there deciding what to eat).

Surgery went great. They were hoping they could do laparoscopy rather than cutting one huge incision, and they were able to. Four small incisions in R's abdomen, plus the belly button incision. They kept him overnight again last night, which was good because he needed their super drugs to fight the pain. He's been holding down liquids since 6pm yesterday, ate a mushy breakfast this morning, and had turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing/green beans for lunch. He did well with all of that, so they let him get dressed and come home. He's so much happier in his own bed. He's zonked out in there, I'm assuming he'll probably sleep most of the afternoon and then wake up for an hour or two before sleeping through the night. He took a vic.odin before going into the bedroom, although he had refused pain meds all morning. He's got a heating pad on his back because the hospital bed was uncomfortable and I'll probably give him a backrub later if he's awake.

R's grandma came up, but left not long after he got back to his room after surgery. My mom stayed the night to help take care of the dog since I wouldn't be home much. I was glad for that, I think I was more worried about the dog being left alone than I was about any part of R's surgery. The dog did demolish a brand new ball of crochet thread this morning while we were at the hospital waiting for R to be discharged, but I don't blame her since the past few days have been so hectic and she's been alone and bored.

I am currently enjoying a tiny bit of quiet time before I have to revert back into nursemaid mode and go adjust pillows, bring glasses of water, help in and out of bed, etc. It's going to be a long couple days before R starts feeling like himself again, but he did take care of me after my lap so I can't complain (although he didn't keep the house nearly as clean as I like to, and he's a terrible cook). The neighbors across the road invited me to Easter dinner over there, which I will probably go to. It saves me from having to cook, especially not knowing if R is going to want to eat or not. And I'm still so tired that I don't know if anything I cooked would be edible, or if it's even safe for me to cook in my current state. I'd probably fall asleep at the table and burn everything.

Now for a nap until then.

Diary of a Waiting Room Wife

11:30am Saturday

First we'll get the background out of the way.

R went into the ER around 10am on Friday. Diagnosis: ga.llstones. A bunch of them, big as marbles. IV, medications, and finally a surgery consult around 4pm. They thought his pain was under control and that he'd be able to ride it out with Vic.odin till Monday, so they let him go home around 5pm. Their pain meds wore off around 8pm and he took his first pill. By 9:30 he was in pain again, and by 10pm it was severe enough that he wanted to come back to the hospital. New doc, this one very much more attentive (checked on him every half hour at least, the one in the morning came twice in 6 hours), but not very proactive. We had to request the surgeon come back down, the doc kinda wanted to send him back home again. The surgeon came in, said hi, palpated his abdomen, and pretty much immediately admitted him. The surgeon ordered more meds (R had gotten two doses of De.merol within the first hour we were there, with no relief at all). Those meds were great (if I remember what it was, I'll let you know). R finally got his room upstairs around 4am, all the paperwork and questions were done around 5. I went home, made a couple phone calls (my dad is always up that early), brought the dog into our bedroom (she shares a room with Little H, but I love sleeping with her when R is away), and tried to get some sleep. My alarm went off at 8am, I cursed and turned it off, then went back to sleep for a little while. I woke up again at 8:30 and started making the rest of the morning's phone calls: R's grandma (she raised him), R's mom, my parents again, R's boss/pastor. I gave them the phone number here and his room number and told them to sit tight until we saw the surgeon this morning.

Fast forward past my breakfast and bank card fiasco at the gas station (damn thing stopped working, it worked at BK, then right across the street it wouldn't do anything, not even in their A.TM).

I finally got back to the hospital around 10am. Still hadn't seen the surgeon this morning, but he was doped up on pain meds pretty well. I checked with the nurses to see if there was any idea when the surgeon would show up and how he did overnight (in the 4 1/2 hours I was gone). Half an hour later the surgeon came in, palpated again, and scheduled the surgery. The surgeon had another surgery that was more urgent to do first, so R is scheduled to go in sometime between 2-3pm. R asked for his bible, which I had forgotten when I came in, so I ran home to get it and made another round of phone calls. My mom asked if I needed her, because she could tell I hadn't had any sort of emotional reaction to this yet. I told her no. Called Grandma, R's mom, R's aunt, R's boss. Called mom back and asked her to come up, I think I'll need her later (damn her, I hadn't even thought about being worried or nervous or upset in any way until she suggested it). R's grandma is on her way, too. I got back here again and R's boss and his wife were on their way out (I had left them a message). They let me know that he had just requested something for nausea and was pretty much out of it again. We hugged (which was nice, because there was a lot of drama with them during that whole possible divorce fiasco), and they said to let them know how things go and call if I need anything.

So here we are, now 11:45am, R's out cold, I'm watching the Ja.ckie Ch.an cartoon (because that's the channel R had it on) and writing this all out in wor.dpad (somebody's husband still hasn't installed Office on her laptop). I don't know when I'm going to break, but, now that I know I should, I know I will. I'd spent the entire time in only the clinical mindset, reverting back to my paramedic training and seeing only the clinical aspect and not the personal one. I kept track of his meds and pain, I was his constant bedside nurse. My mom is expecting me to burst when he gets out of the OR, when it's over and I know he's safe and better and I don't have to be strong anymore. I don't know what I would have done, but now that she has suggested it I can't think of anything else. It's like I'm preparing myself for my own breakdown, trying to figure out how I'm going to be strong when I stop being strong. I am so glad my mom is coming, she is my comfort and my rock and I'm going to need that. I can't break down alone, I have to know that somebody is here to take care of him and take care of me first. I won't allow any emotions until I know it won't effect him, so if my mom weren't coming anything that I'm "not" feeling would never come out. I think her coming is a good thing.